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Frank Strazza
Class date: July 5-9, 2021
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Chris Schwarz calls Texas craftsman, Frank Strazza, the finest furniture maker currently working. Frank is offering a 5 day marquetry and inlay class, including letter inlay. Students will learn a wide range of skills going beyond these topics. Frank will cover a gold leaf intro, letter carving, as well as other potential topics of interest as time allows.
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Material fee will be approx. 70 dollars per student. This will include the wood, blades, veneer tape, spiral drill and drill bits.
We will be sawing up and preparing the veneer.
Everyone will need a deep throat fretsaw. Similar to this Groz deep fret saw at Woodcraft.
We plan to do most everything by hand but might utilize the Dewalt scroll saw for the class to speed up the process.
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FRANK STRAZZA BIO
Frank’s interests in woodworking are many and varied. His passion covers several aspects of furniture making including, carving, inlaying, marquetry, tool making, Windsor chair making as well as violin making.
Frank’s first recollection of any interest in woodworking came at the age of seven when his mother found an old hand crank drill at an antique trading post, this piqued Frank’s interest in tools, and furthermore, in working with wood. When Frank was young he was given the opportunity to take some woodworking classes in the evenings with some of the men in his community. At the age of twelve, he built a cedar chest with hand cut dovetails throughout.
Frank apprenticed with the Heritage Craftsman, first in Austin, Texas and then later in Waco, Texas. He has been building furniture for over 25 years and his work has been featured in both local and national publications, including Woodworker West, Woodwork Magazine and Fine Woodworking. Frank has won multiple awards, including, Best of Show, Peoples Choice, First and Second Place, Best Traditional Furniture and much more for many of his pieces, including several awards both at the Texas Furniture Makers Show and at the International Design in Wood Exhibition in California. His most recent win was at the 2012 Texas Furniture Makers Show where he won, both Best of Show and People’s Choice for his “Roses Table”. He has also participated in building furniture for the permanent collection at the White House in Washington D.C.
Frank has taught at many different venues including the Heritage School of Woodworking in Waco Texas as well as Lie-Nielsen Toolworks in Maine and the Alaska Creative Woodworkers Assc. He has also demonstrated woodworking at many different events across the country including Lie-Nielsen's Handtool events, The Woodworking Shows and Handworks.
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Marquetry Class Description
Maine Coast Workshops July 2021
In this 5 day workshop we will cover many aspects of marquetry. You will learn about the different techniques including the Boulle method, piece by piece and my favorite, the double bevel method. You will learn many tips and tricks including making your own veneer, using hot hide glue and hand cutting with perfect precision. This class will focus on my favorite method which is the double bevel method of marquetry.
You will learn about the different ways of coming up with designs for your projects. We will begin by learning how to saw using a deep throat fret saw and a very fine blade, cutting accurately, smoothly and efficiently. Starting out, you will learn how to cut out and create a simple leaf pattern. We will then move into more complex cutting, you will learn how to customize your projects with custom lettering, hand cut in wood.
Moving on, you will actually create a more complex piece, Creating a rose, or another flower of your choice, complete with a natural pink wood with many other accent woods. You will learn how to sand shade, an ancient method and one of the techniques to give your work a 3 dimensional look. We will cover how to inlay or overlay your work into your projects.
As time permits we have the option of learning how to inlay letters and, depending on student interest, we can cover gold leafing techniques as well. Please feel free to reach out to Frank Strazza at strazzafurniture@gmail.com if you have any questions about the class or materials.
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Supply List for Marquetry Class
Maine Coast Workshop
July 5-9, 2021
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Please bring the items listed below:
12” deep throat fret saw-
Similar to this Groz deep fret saw at Woodcraft.
We plan to do most everything by hand but might
utilize the Dewalt scroll saw for the class to speed up the process.
Blue tape
Carbon paper black
Tracing paper
Card Scraper
Head worn Magnifiers (unless you have super good eyesight!)
Pencils
Notebook
We WILL provide veneers but feel free to bring an assortment of your choosing if
you’d like. It just HAS to be the same thickness and no thinner then 1/16” thick
Below is a list of some suggested species but feel free to bring any others that
you may have. You can find these at "Certainly Wood".....
Poplar
Cherry
Walnut
Beech
Maple
Holly
Below is a list of things that We WILL provide but if you have your own, feel free to
bring them:
Spiral pin Drill to accept very small bits
No 74 Drill Bits
Veneer tape
Pegas 2/0 skip tooth blades


Any interest in a workbench class? Let me know & we'll add it to the schedule
Frank builds beautiful benches!
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